All about ‘Herero People and The Smiley’

SMILEY is a surprisingly cheerful name for a goat cooked until its flesh has retracted so much the animal appears to be grinning.

Dark as the nickname may be, the delicacy is the traditional dish at the heart of the third and final episode of the ‘Best Ever Food Review Show’, titled ‘Herero People and the Smiley’.

Leaving the open markets of Windhoek to meet the OvaHimba at Kamanjab and ending with the Ovaherero of Ombu village, the wildly popular YouTube show’s host, Sonny Side, finds himself amid a group of women, stunning in their elaborately patterned dresses.

As always, ‘Best Ever Food Review Show’ is about more than just the grub. The origin of the Ovaherero’s Victorian ohorokova is explained with a quick lesson in German colonial history.

Wearing the modified dress particularly well is the episode’s guide, Gersoliena Karita, whose horn-shaped, Chanel-embellished headpiece, known as otjikaiva, harks back to the animal at the centre of Herero culture.

“Our lives are based on the cow, because we get most of our food from the cow,” says Karita. “Everything we get from the cow, we use. We don’t leave anything.”

Providing meat as well as milk, which is used for butter, sour milk and ghee, cows are revered in Herero culture and are overseen by the men of the village. At Ombu, the women, who traditionally eat separately from the men, are in charge of cooking and preparing a feast of omajowa (mushrooms), bread, rehydrated tripe, beans and fried spinach.

An episode in which Side finally succeeds at milking a cow inquires as to whether idiot beans are served with so-called “stupid” mushrooms and the man even bites into a wee bit of testicle, ‘Herero People and the Smiley’ is an intro to goat head preparation and a happy end to a great Namibian adventure.

Humble, respectful, game for anything and having certainly earned many more Namibian fans during his time in the country, Side closes the final local episode with appreciation for more than our curious cuisine and terrific tourist attractions.

“This place is famous for its vast landscapes and wildlife, but I was most drawn in by the people,” he says. “Proud of their culture, but equally willing to share it.”

Watch Best Ever Food Review Show’s ‘Herero People and The Smiley’, ‘Himba Life and Food’ and ‘African Street Food in Namibia’ on YouTube.

– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter; marthamukaiwa.com

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